In other news UK and Japan free trade deal agreed! Fcuk Pelosi she's a daft old bat
'Sounds pedantic but is important - the deal has not yet been really concluded in full and certainly not signed...agreement in principle is its own thing for a reason!
in a way we have Japan to thank for having our first standalone one - they did not want to roll over the FTA we had with them through the EU and so while much of this is about continuity and avoiding a gap, some def UK specific add ons
Great to see. Presume not every trade deal the UK signs is going to be explicitly framed as a competition with the EU, and that this is about Japan being a continuity deal plus (we love our pluses)'
- Allie Renison (IOD Trade advisor)
'I've opened up the UK description of the benefits of the Japan FTA, and the first thing on the list looks very much like the UK signed away rights that the EU recognised and protected. I'll have to wait to see the text, but it's almost guaranteed. '
- Steve Analyst.
'UK-Japan FTA:
-Good news, UKs 11th largest trade partner, don't want to lose that
-Economically neutral, existing EU-Japan deal
-Interesting indication of UK priorities (who thought Geographical Indications? Bit extra on services)
-Japan probably more helpful than others will be
-CPTPP accession far from guaranteed (respect for law important to members)
-UK-Japan trade may still decline if Japanese companies don't use UK as European base
-Never going to be UK-EU replacement
-Doesn't tell us much about future UK economy
-Shows we can do trade deals with other major countries
-Shows limitations of UK over EU trade deals (swap some tariff concessions for others)
- no surprise to trade specialists
-Wins for Japan still unclear, any hidden nasties?
Rollover of the existing EU-Japan deal confirmed 'in principle' (a usual negotiators trick, could mean many things), details presumably to follow but don't expect drastic changes from the existing, and the trade increase is versus a notional no-deal, not the current situation.'
- David Henig (UK Director
@ecipe making sense of Brexit & Trade/ also global trade policy/ TTIP veteran/ Co-founder
@uktradeforum )
'Reminder - Japan's initial reluctance to sign a roll-over deal changed as a result of its industry's concerns regarding the outcome of UK-EU talks.'
- De Anna Jerzewska (14 years trade/
#customs /FTAs experience. Consultant for UN
@ITCnews,
@britishchambers and others. Ex-big4.
@UK_TPO Associate Fellow.
@TradeExperette )
FT suggests the added value of this trade deal to the UK is 0.07%.
So it's ok news, but lets not get carried away.